1. Field of the Invention
The present inventions relate generally to the field of regulated pay computer-controlled games, either games of skills or games of chance.
2. Description of the Prior Art and Related Information
Electronic games of chance of the present day rely heavily on gambling's inherent tension to entertain players. This is to say that, other than the uncertainty surrounding whether a wager will result in the winning or losing of funds, such games offer the player little in the way of entertainment. Most slot machines, for example, feature repetitive wagering sequences in which there is no significant decision-making, no skill exhibited, and no building sense of purpose from one action to the next.
Casino video poker games have an advantage over video slot machines in that they allow the player to make real decisions with real consequences. These decisions, however, have fairly clear-cut solutions and are repetitive in nature—limitations that undercut much of the entertainment value they provide. It should also be noted that while the graphics and effects used within video slot machines have improved sharply within the past decade and thus contributed to those games' entertainment value, the visual effects used in video poker games have remained primitive.
Electronic games released for the home video game market feature elements of skill-based play that have long proved entertaining to players but that have not been widely used within the casino environment. These video games accurately measure and reward skills like rapid decision making, good hand-eye coordination, and manual dexterity such that players feel a correlation between their performance within the game and the results achieved. These games also allow players to experience a rising sense of excitement by providing them with goals and objectives within the game—such as completing tasks and advancing through “levels”—that give the gaming experience a greater feeling of purpose and meaning.
With the advent of the 21st century, slot machine manufacturers have come to realize the value of creating games that are attractive to an emerging generation of video-game savvy players. Bally Technologies has recently appealed to the home video gamers' sense of nostalgia by incorporating themes and icons from classic video games like Atari's Pong® into video slot machines. The Pong® game is essentially a traditional video slot machine that uses symbols taken from the classic Pong® arcade game, although players who randomly win a trip into the game's bonus round do get to demonstrate their skill in a 45 second bonus video game.
Pong® and other such slot-based games are unlikely to capture the attention of the home video game player for one key reason: a standard slot machine dressed up with video game themes and icons and an interactive bonus round is still, at its core, a slot machine. A generation of players who grew up fighting aliens, driving race cars, rescuing princesses and slaying dragons, all in brilliant graphics and sounds, is never going to be fully engaged by a game that derives its primary excitement from the player passively watching spinning reels.
Instead, this newer generation of player will demand casino games that measure real skill and that reward fast reflexes and good decision making. Players will not be satisfied with snippets of simulated video game play that occur only in secondary bonus games; they will demand arcade-style excitement from the moment their game begins until the moment it ends.
The challenge of developing an electronic casino game that rewards true skill from start to finish and yet returns a reliable yield to the game operator has, thus far, been unsolved by casino game manufacturers. From the foregoing, it may be appreciated that there has been a long felt need for games, gaming methods and gaming machines that offer both rewarding continuous arcade-style game play to the player and predictable profits to the game operator.